PRESSURE IN MUNICH: Vice President Mike Pence heads to Germany today to take part in the Munich Conference on Security Policy, Europe’s premier gathering of more than 500 security officials from around the world, including more than 25 heads of state and government and 80 foreign and defense ministers. While there, Pence is set to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is feeling a lot of political heat these days from the rival center-left Social Democrats, who are campaigning against her on an anti-Trump platform. Germany is one of the NATO nations put on notice by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis this week at a NATO defense ministerial for failing to meeting the alliance requirement of spending at 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. Germany, one of the strongest economies in Europe, spends about 1.2 percent on its military, which puts it in the company of Albania and Bulgaria.

Mattis and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen are both scheduled to give opening remarks, followed by debates on the future of the European Union, NATO and the West. Tomorrow Merkel, Pence and UN Secretary-General António Guterres will address the conference.